PU eves excel in rowing meet
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, October 29
Panjab University, Chandigarh, eves stole the limelight on the opening day of the All India Inter-Varsity Rowing championship for men and women here at Sukhna lake. Panjab University men finished first after the completion of the first round in coxless pairs, coxless fours, single scull-women, coxless fours (men), double scull (men), coxless pairs (women), double scull-women.

Volleyball meet

Chandigarh outclassed Patna region 25-8, 25-11 in the junior girls section of the second day of the XIII Navodya Vidyalya School Volleyball Championship being played at Jawahar Navodya Vidyalya, Sector 25. In another junior girls tie, Hyderabad defeated Lucknow region 25-23, 15-05, 25-19.

In senior girls section, Hyderabad beat Shillong, while Patna defeated Bhopal region. In junior boys section, Chandigarh got the better of Pune, while Lucknow defeated Bhopal. In the senior boys section, Bhopal beat Pune, while Lucknow defeated Shillong.

Triumph for St Stephen’s

The roller hockey players of St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, brought laurels when they clinched titles in both junior and sub-junior section in the All India Open Roller Skating Open, which concluded last evening at Meerut. The 20-member team was led by Saurabh Munjal and coached by Mr Balwinder Singh Johal.

In the junior section, St Stephen’s boys overpowered Yadu Skating School, Meerut, 12-2 in the final, while in sub-junior section, the team finished second.

The roller hockey players of St Stephen’s School, Sector 45.

Hockey title for Sanjay School

Defending champions Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, proved its supremacy in hockey when its under-19 team won the title by beating Shah Satnam Ji School, Sirsa, in the CBSE North Zone Cluster XI Hockey Below-19 Tournament, which concluded last evening at St Thomas School, Jalandhar.

St John’s bag cricket title

St John’s High School, Sector 26, has bagged the under-14 cricket title for the first time in the UT Inter-School Cricket Meet, which concluded recently. St John’s School won the toss and made 109 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Ashish scored unbeaten 23 runs, while Karan made 30 runs. Vikram and Abhinav claimed two wickets each. In reply, DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, were bundled out for 83 runs in 22.3 overs. Abhishek and Ankit scored 12 and 14 runs, respectively. Kshitij and Siliyansh bagged three and two wickets, respectively.

Cricket meet

High Court Cricket Club outplayed Star XI, Panchkula, by 99 runs in the Haryana Tourism Cash Prize Cricket Tournament, organised by Friends Cricket Club, at Sector 14 grounds, Panchkula. In another tie, Diamond Cricket Club, Panchkula, beat Haryana Tourism by eight wickets.

Badminton tourney

The CBSE North Zone Badminton Tournament in below 14,17 and 19 sections for both boys and girls will begin here tomorrow at DC Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, Panchkula.

Clean chit to football player
Our Sports Reporter

SAS Nagar, October 29
Randeep Singh, a football player of Government Model High School, Sector 42, has been given a clean chit by the Secretary, Inter-School Sports Committee (boys), Mr Karan Singh, over a confusion about his age. He communicated this today in writing to the Principal, St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, who had lodged a protest over the age of Randeep Singh. His date of birth had been shown as November 16, 1990, while as per the documents available with The Tribune, the date of birth of the boy was March 27, 1989.

The Class V examination records of the State Education Department, Punjab and School Leaving Certificate also showed March 27, 1989 as the date of birth of the boy.

Printers cry foul over tender condition
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 29
Nearly 40 printers having offset machine of the city are up in arms against the decision of the Department of Printing and Stationery, Punjab, to change terms and conditions of the tender called for printing electoral rolls this year. They have alleged that officials of the department have changed conditions only to benefit a section of printers that would, however, result in loss to the state exchequer worth about Rs 30 lakh.

At a press conference organised here Mr Anil Guglani, president, Chandigarh Offset Printers Association, alleged that the Controller in the Printing and Stationery Department in connivance with a group of printers had framed conditions of the tender in such a way that above 40 printers out of 51 were declared ineligible. It was despite the fact, he said, that they had been doing printing work for the past many years for the state government at a much lower rate.

Elaborating his point, he said, ‘‘The Controller Printing and Stationery Department had called for tenders for printing of state electoral rolls in August this year, in which 51 printers submitted their bids. Unlike previous years, the department decided to add a condition that the annual turnover of the bidders should not be less than Rs 25 lakh during the past three years. We were also asked to submit income tax returns. ’’ On that basis, he said, 41 bidders were declared as unqualified, and only nine printers, out of the 10 shortlisted were given work of printing at a much higher rate of Rs 25.50 per page though we were ready to work at a rate of Rs 21.40 per page.

In this regard, Mr Rakesh Pandey, Minister of State of Printing and Stationery, Punjab, when contacted over the phone at Ludhiana, said, ‘‘The department was forced to change the conditions of work, since a large section of non-serious printers used to enter the fray and would get the contract. Most of them would further sublet the work. It used to result in delay in the completion of work and security risks as well.’’ Regarding the allegation of any corrupt deals, he denied any foul play and said that he would be able to comment only after studying the file in his office.

The printers further alleged that they were granted work of printing electoral rolls of the SGPC and some other districts at a much lower rate, when they protested over the unfair treatment in aforesaid tender. Mr Abhay Jain, general secretary of the association, urged the state government to reconsider its decision since the work executed through Controller, Printing and Stationery Department would cause huge financial losses to the state government.

In a memorandum submitted to the Secretary, Printing and Stationery Department, the association has urged either to cancel the tender and call for another tender after cancelling the turnover condition or to allot them the work proportionately.

Khanna is IT Chief Commissioner, NWR
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 29
Mr Vijay Khanna, a 1967 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service, today took over as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, North Western Range (NWR) Chandigarh.

The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, NWR is the cadre-controlling Chief Commissioner for the states of Jammu and Kashmir Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Pradesh and Chandigarh.

A science graduate from Hindu College, New Delhi, Mr Khanna has served in various capacities in different parts of the country during his career spanning 35 years. He has served as CIT (Appeals) in Jammu and as Commissioner of Income Tax in Jodhpur, Rajkot and Shimla. He was also responsible for taking the Shimla charge from Rs 25 crore budget to Rs 200 crore. On promotion as Chief Commissioner, he has served as CCIT, Kolkota, and CCIT, Shimla.

Kiosk razed in Sec 7
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, October 29
The Enforcement Wing of HUDA today demolished a kiosk in Sector 7 Rehri market that had come up three months ago. The kiosk, belonging to a Congress leader, was reportedly demolished on instructions of Chief Administrator, HUDA.

Mr Bharat Bhushan Bansal, owner of the kiosk, said he was the original licence holder of the rehri market since 1989. He said he was , however, not given a site number in the market. “The HUDA authorities had three months ago themselves allowed me to set up my kiosk on the pavement, “ he complained. However, HUDA officials say the kiosk was placed out of symmetry from rest of kiosks in the market and was thus demolished.